The original Purge film I detested it was a great concept but badly executed. The Purge: Anarchy has been out a good 12 months now and I didn’t watch it in the cinema. Due to my full time job I have to be more selective with what I watch and it didn’t catch my eye. But I have watched it and I wanted to share my thoughts with everybody. What is The Purge: Anarchy about you ask? In near-future America, the Purge has become established as a national event. Each year, all crime is legal during one allocated twelve-hour period – even murder. Emergency services are suspended and ordinary citizens are warned to keep off the streets to avoid getting caught up in the carnage. But for one young couple (Zack Gilford, Kiele Sanchez) in Los Angeles, disaster strikes when their car breaks down just as the Purge begins. Elsewhere in the city, an armed man (Frank Grillo) takes to the streets bent on revenge and two women (Carmen Ejogo, Zoe Soul) are dragged from their home by sinister uniformed figures. The fight for survival has begun!The film lives up to its title in the regard that the film’s pacing stays consistent, never slowing down and never coming down to a grinding halt to let some unexpectedly boring bout of moralistic integrity play with the characters. The film remains a worthwhile riot, quite literally, using its solid array of actors especially Frank Grillo, who is captivating and mystifying as the main lead in the film.

Not to mention, The Purge: Anarchy rights one of its predecessor’s biggest wrongs, which is identifying why The Purge allegedly reduces crime rate, why it allegedly lessens unemployment, and why it has allegedly been successful, along with its New Founding Fathers. It does all this by introducing a thoroughly interesting group of rebels, who work to combat The Purge and all it stands for, run by its humanist leader, who believes The Purge is just an event to eliminate the poor and help the wealthy increase their capital and their egos. Consistently, writer/director DeMonaco ushers in new ideas, zealously welcoming many different aspects of what could happen in a usually-populated downtown area during this psychotic night, while leaving numerous ideas unexplored. Just the last twenty minutes of the film could be used as the building blocks for another screenplay revolving around this twelve hour escapade. I would be interested in seeing three or four more films exploring this idea from different perspectives – the wealthy, the homeless, gang-infested areas, and so forth, for The Purge idea still feels extremely unexplored, even with two films directly catering to the idea.The Purge: Anarchy finds the rare and often blurred crossroads between extremely graphic violence and social commentary, satisfying parties who came for the carnage and the parties who came for the insight both fittingly and accordingly.